Is not what you’re thinking…

It dawned on me as I was watching Peyton Manning dismantle the San Diego Chargers defense last week: His preparation had been so thorough, and he knew his team’s strengths so well, that he knew — and they knew — they couldn’t stop his momentum.

The best air talents have always understood the importance of preparation.

Preparation allows them to run their own version of a “hurry-up offense” on the radio.

That doesn’t mean they know everything they’re going to do when they hit the studio door. It means they know everything they can do if what they have planned fails.

They’re not so rigid that they have to follow a set series of “plays.” That’s too predictable, making it easier for another show — the defense — to plan ways to stop them.

They hit the studio each morning with enough great content — enough great “plays” — to take advantage of any situation that occurs.

And once they start rolling, the momentum is impossible to stop.

You’ve heard it. You’ve watched it steamroll your market. It may have cost you your job along the way.

You may fool others into believing your prep is done once you fill 6 or 8 slots on your daily prep grid, but you and I both know that’s not true.

Great prep never stops.

You can’t ever score enough in the game you’re playing.